A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted former Trump national security adviser John Bolton on 18 counts of illegally hoarding and transmitting sensitive information, charges that could carry decades in prison.
The indictment accuses Bolton, 76, of sending national security documents through a personal AOL email account and knowingly sharing classified materials with outside contacts during his tenure in the Trump administration.
Prosecutors allege the documents included intelligence labeled “top secret” and detailed information on future attacks, foreign adversaries and international relations.
According to the indictment, some of the sensitive communications on Bolton’s personal email account were exposed when an Iranian-linked hacker gained access.
Bolton served as national security adviser from April 2018 until he was fired in September 2019. After leaving the White House, he publicly pledged he had no classified documents or notes in his possession.
As someone who spent the greater part of his career working in the national security establishment, Bolton, himself an attorney, would have been well aware of the rules surrounding the handling of classified materials.
Even without such a background, the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s emails in the years prior to his latest stint in government might have been a warning — provided the charges hold up in the criminal adjudication process.
“Now, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts,” Bolton said, adding “When my e-mail was hacked in 2021, the FBI was made fully aware. In four years of the prior administration, after these reviews, no charges were ever filed. Then came Trump 2 who embodies what Joseph Stalin’s head of secret police once said, ‘Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.'”
